Vladimir Putin has ordered Russians to have sex at work during lunch and coffee breaks because of a decline in the birth rate in the country.
The sex-at-work scheme has been ordered because the current fertility rate is around 1.5 children per woman, far below the 2.1 rate needed to keep a stable population.
More than one million mainly younger Russians have emigrated away from the country due to Putin’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
Putin said: ‘The preservation of the Russian people is our highest national priority.
‘The fate of Russia….depends on how many of us there will be. It is a question of national importance.’
Health minister Dr Yevgeny Shestopalov said: ‘Being very busy at work is not a valid reason, but a lame excuse.
‘You can engage in procreation during breaks, because life flies by too quickly.’
He was asked by a reporter how busy people had time to have children.
She quizzed him: ‘There are people who work 12 to 14 hours – when do they make babies?’
He replied: ‘During break times.’
This is just one of many demands made by the Kremlin to encourage people to have more babies.
For example, women aged 18 to 40 in Moscow are being told to attend free fertility checks to assess their ‘reproductive potential’.
MP Tatyana Butskaya, 49, has drawn up a blueprint for employers to coerce women to have babies.
She said: ‘Large families are becoming the new elite. Regional governors should report on the birth rate….
‘Each employer should look at their workplace, what is your birth rate? Here in your team.
‘Do you have one more child this year from each person who can give birth to a child this year – or not?
‘This is exactly how we should pose this question….we will monitor it. In a year, our task is, of course, to increase it.’
Another region in Russia called Chelyabinsk – is even paying students who are women under the age of 24 £8,500 for the birth of their first child.
Access to abortion across the country is also being blocked as public figures and churchmen claim women’s duty is to give birth and raise children.
The fees for divorce have also been increased.
Politician Anna Kuznetsova has also demanded women start giving birth at a young age.
She said: ‘You should start giving birth at 19-20 years old. Then, statistically, the family will be able to have three, four, or more children.’
MP Zhanna Ryabtseva added: ‘Give birth, give birth and give birth again, you need to give birth, give birth at 18.’
It is believed Putin wants Russians to follow his example of having many children.
But the problem with this is that he has never actually told Russians how many offspring he has.
It is thought that the official figure is two daughters from his previous marriage to ex-first lady Lyudmila Putina.
Their names are Maria Vorontsova, 39, and Katerina Tikhonova, 37.
But journalists have recently confirmed Putin also has other children including two sons, aged nine and five, with his long-term lover Alina Kabaeva, 41, a gold-medal winning former Olympic gymnast.
Luiza, 21, was also born from an extra-marital relationship.
Russia’s population is projected to drop from the current 144 million to 130 million or lower by 2050.
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